Disclaimer: I do hereby disclaim all rights and responsibilities for the characters in this diplomatic feat... especially for the one who rarely gives a straight answer. A nod of recognition is bent towards Rumiko Takahashi for her creative prowess.

This drabble was originally posted to Live Journal on August 2, 2010.

Garden of Verses

"How did you do it?" Inuyasha asked as he stared out at the Kitsune Inn's rainswept garden.

"Do what?" Hisoka inquired.

"Open the Well so Kagome could get back?"

"I used the nintoujou."

Jaken jerked to attention, and Sesshoumaru's gaze gained new intensity. Inuyasha frowned and asked, "The imp's staff?"

"Yes," he replied quietly. "It is... was mine."

"So... that thing's more than a fire-starter?"

Hisoka gestured towards the tattered hilt propped against the hanyou's shoulder. "Tell me," he challenged. "How did you attain Tetsusaiga?"

"Why do you want to know?" Inuyasha asked warily.

"According to my grandfather, it was hidden very carefully."

Inuyasha tugged an ear. "Well, there was this riddle..."

"Seeing, yet never seen. Protected, yet never known to its protector," Hisoka quoted.

"Yeah, that's it! And then there was this black pearl," he listed. "And a portal thing was opened to my old man's grave."

"How?" the neko-youkai prodded.

The hanyou's face creased in concentration. "Sesshoumaru did it. He used... oh! He used that staff to open a way!" he remembered excitedly.

"I used a similar technique to encourage the time slip within the Well to open."

"Sounds easy enough," Inuyasha ventured.

Hisoka smiled wryly. "It wasn't."

End Note: This drabble was written for the Live Journal community dokuga(underscore)contest and their prompt for Week #98—List. 200 words.